The problem with leading an authentic life where you set your own goals, is that often results in alienation from the masses, who prefer to just abity by the flow of an inauthentic and artificial mainstream culture. This in turn often forces the individual either to compromise too much, in an attempt to reduce his alienation, or to live a hermit-like life of social isolation, both of which are likely to produce strong feeling of dissatisfation and depression in the long run.
Also, not everyone is as lucky as Stallone. Some need to face failure upon failure long before they experience any success with their strategy. How long should one persist until one acknowledges defeat? At what point needs one revisit their strategy and decide to pivot to a different one? In a society where most humans are sheep, are the masses even capable to taking control of their own destiny and leading an authentic life? And, if not, is the combination of a desire to transcend the sheep-like attitude of the masses and years of grinding sufficient to achieve this? Or do eg. luck, generics and/or social networking play a role at least as crucial?
For most people, I don't believe being true to themselves means alienating most of their social circle or society at large. Some forms of heresy will be unacceptable. Some men are burned at the stake. Still, a little subtlety goes a long way: look at the success of Pat Buchanan or Lee Kuan Yew, two very politically incorrect men. My next post will deal with how to build constructive relationships with other people.
The whole idea of being true to yourself that you define your own identity and way of life independently from social expectations. For people with common personality types and average intelligence, this won't set them apart from the masses that much. But those with uncommon / rare personality types and/or superior intelligence typically lead rather unique and distinct lives, passively rejecting or actively opposing many aspects of mainstream culture, and will therefore will be perceived as "excentrics" and/or threats by the collective. And, depending on a wide range of circumstances beyond the individual's control, this can result in social isolation, addiction, poverty, persecution, etc.
I'm thinking of individuals such as Socrates, Joan of Arc, Hildegard of Bingen, Giordano Bruno, Baruch Spinoza, Novalis, Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Leo Tolstoy, Nikola Tesla, Anthony Ludovici, Lothrop Stoddard, Martin Heidegger, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Leni Riefenstahl, Francis Parker Yockey, George Lincoln Rockwell, Yukio Mishima, Ayn Rand, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Buckminster Fuller, Bobby Fischer, Alexander Shulgin, Terence McKenna, Roger Garaudy, Ted Kaczynski, Ben Klassen, Ernst Zündel, Norman Finkelstein, Eduard Limonov, Richard Stallman, Donald Knuth, Aaron Swartz, Irving Finkel, Kim Dotcom, Vitalik Buterin, Liv Boeree, Markus Persson and Mattias Desmet, among many many others. Each of these individuals followed their own unique path, distinct from social expectations, and made their mark by doing so. Some became extremely wealthy. Others died in poverty. Some lived long, stable and happy lives. Others stuggled many years of their lives with addiction and/or social isolation and/or ended up killing themselves. Some became lauded as heroes by the mainstream. Others became villains, were incarcerated by the establishment and/or were executed / assassinated. While leading an authentic life where you set your own goals can most definitely provide extremely large rewards, it can also be a life full of risks and a strategy that can backfire at any time...
The problem with leading an authentic life where you set your own goals, is that often results in alienation from the masses, who prefer to just abity by the flow of an inauthentic and artificial mainstream culture. This in turn often forces the individual either to compromise too much, in an attempt to reduce his alienation, or to live a hermit-like life of social isolation, both of which are likely to produce strong feeling of dissatisfation and depression in the long run.
Also, not everyone is as lucky as Stallone. Some need to face failure upon failure long before they experience any success with their strategy. How long should one persist until one acknowledges defeat? At what point needs one revisit their strategy and decide to pivot to a different one? In a society where most humans are sheep, are the masses even capable to taking control of their own destiny and leading an authentic life? And, if not, is the combination of a desire to transcend the sheep-like attitude of the masses and years of grinding sufficient to achieve this? Or do eg. luck, generics and/or social networking play a role at least as crucial?
For most people, I don't believe being true to themselves means alienating most of their social circle or society at large. Some forms of heresy will be unacceptable. Some men are burned at the stake. Still, a little subtlety goes a long way: look at the success of Pat Buchanan or Lee Kuan Yew, two very politically incorrect men. My next post will deal with how to build constructive relationships with other people.
The whole idea of being true to yourself that you define your own identity and way of life independently from social expectations. For people with common personality types and average intelligence, this won't set them apart from the masses that much. But those with uncommon / rare personality types and/or superior intelligence typically lead rather unique and distinct lives, passively rejecting or actively opposing many aspects of mainstream culture, and will therefore will be perceived as "excentrics" and/or threats by the collective. And, depending on a wide range of circumstances beyond the individual's control, this can result in social isolation, addiction, poverty, persecution, etc.
I'm thinking of individuals such as Socrates, Joan of Arc, Hildegard of Bingen, Giordano Bruno, Baruch Spinoza, Novalis, Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Leo Tolstoy, Nikola Tesla, Anthony Ludovici, Lothrop Stoddard, Martin Heidegger, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Leni Riefenstahl, Francis Parker Yockey, George Lincoln Rockwell, Yukio Mishima, Ayn Rand, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Buckminster Fuller, Bobby Fischer, Alexander Shulgin, Terence McKenna, Roger Garaudy, Ted Kaczynski, Ben Klassen, Ernst Zündel, Norman Finkelstein, Eduard Limonov, Richard Stallman, Donald Knuth, Aaron Swartz, Irving Finkel, Kim Dotcom, Vitalik Buterin, Liv Boeree, Markus Persson and Mattias Desmet, among many many others. Each of these individuals followed their own unique path, distinct from social expectations, and made their mark by doing so. Some became extremely wealthy. Others died in poverty. Some lived long, stable and happy lives. Others stuggled many years of their lives with addiction and/or social isolation and/or ended up killing themselves. Some became lauded as heroes by the mainstream. Others became villains, were incarcerated by the establishment and/or were executed / assassinated. While leading an authentic life where you set your own goals can most definitely provide extremely large rewards, it can also be a life full of risks and a strategy that can backfire at any time...